Kansas to Korea

Goals: Studying for the Test of Proficiency in Korean (TOPIK)

If I write it for others to see, I will feel more committed and actually follow through with it…theoretically. While in Korea, one of my personal goals is to take the TOPIK, aka Test of proficiency in Korean. While many people who take this examination are doing it for academic or career-oriented reasons, my motives are more casual and personal. I know, it sounds strange to take an exam just for fun, but I want to challenge myself.

The TOPIK exam takes place several times a year with a handful of the exam dates taking place exclusively in Korea. A record number of 72,295 foreigners, in 45 countries took the last exam in April. The examination is separated into TOPIK-1 with 2 levels focusing on ONLY listening and reading, and TOPIK-II is broken down into levels 3-6 with reading, writing, and listening. Needless to say, I will focus on TOPIK-I but I would love to reach TOPIK-II one day!

In the US, I don’t live anywhere near a testing location, so being in Korea will make this finally possible without extreme burdens on time and money. I’m aiming for the November test date, but I may postpone it until 2017 pending how well I settle in during the fall.

As I really buckle down and commit myself, I plan on making a regular study schedule with both physical and digital study mediums. You can find many TOPIK lessons on youtube matched with previous examination questions to study from.

I feel that learning a language and setting goals for myself will help me better understand my students, and the challenges they may be facing as I teach them English. While I don’t believe that standardized tests give a comprehensive view of a person’s linguistic knowledge/capabilities, especially with TOPIK-I given there is no speaking section, I think it is a great place to start.